The first Apple Watch prototype was just an iPhone with a velcro strap

Apple describes the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch as a "new chapter in the relationship people have with technology," and "the most personal product we've ever made." But early tests were anything but sophisticated.

According to a new Wired feature by David Pierce, the first prototype was nothing but an iPhone strapped to the user's wrist with velcro.

The iPhone screen would then show a simulation of the Apple Watch's in-development user interface. It means that designers and developers weren't held back by the limitations of hardware, or lack thereof.

But a touch screen doesn't accurately represent how the "digital crown" on the side of the Watch would feel, Pierce writes, so designers came up with a novel solution:

They made a custom dongle, an actual watch crown that plugged into the bottom of the phone through the cord jack. In a sense the first true Apple Watch prototype was, like 10,000 Kickstarter projects, just a weird iPhone case with a strange accessory sticking out of it.

It's a far cry from the $17,000 18-karat yellow gold luxury device going on sale in selected stores on April 24.